Discussion about wargaming and military history, primarily WWII in North Africa. Also discussion about AFV's and artillery.

Wednesday, March 01, 2006

More analysis of the Battleaxe failure

The attack on the border areas near Halfaya Pass had some implications. For the infantry attack to succeed, the infantry tanks would be required, as there was insufficient artillery available. The problem was that the rush to attack precluded time for infantry and tanks to train together.

A battle with German tanks was a certainty, and the logical thing to do would be to pull the Matildas into that battle, as they had the same gun as the cruiser tanks but had superior armour to anything on the battlefield. That meant that the commanders needed to establish good coordination between the 7th Armoured Division and the 4th Indian Division. For that to be assured, General Beresford-Peirse would have needed to be positioned forward, close to the battle. But he was further back, due to limitations to the British communications equipment. This is based on the account in Vol.II of the Official History.

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I spent 11 years on active duty in the navy. Half was as an enlisted man and half as an officer. My Dad had interested me in the navy and ships, when I was young. I found that I was attracted to doing research, regardless of topic, although much of that research has been in the fields of naval and military history. My Dad was also an artist, and got me drawing and painting since I was three. Much of my work consists of portraits of military and naval historical figures, as well as ships and tanks.